As the government starts opening up the economy, the Department of Education (DepEd) is hoping that the number of enrolled school learners will continue to increase.

DepEd Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that as of Sept. 15, more than 24.4 million students have enrolled in public schools.  

“As of this morning, we already have 24.4 million learners who are enrolled, formally enrolled in our system. We (have) achieved 98.8 percent of the numbers last year for the public sector,” she told lawmakers during the House Committee on Appropriations’ deliberations on the DepEd’s 2021 budget.

She also disclosed that 2.082 million learners enrolled in private schools. “This constitutes already about 48 percent of last year’s private school enrolment,” Briones noted. 

She recalled during the first week of June, only 7,388 students had been enrolled in the private sector.

“The private sector enrolment is at 48 percent now, so every day the numbers move. Last June, when we started enrolment there were only .36 percent (or) less than one half percent of the private sector learners who enrolled,” she said. 

She stressed that the drop in enrolment numbers is attributable to the economic downturn brought about the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Kitang-kita ang improvement ng enrolment figures natin sa pagbukas ng ating ekonomiya,” Briones said.

(We can see improvement in our enrolment figures with the opening up of our economy.) 

The opening of classes for school year 2020 to 2021 has been rescheduled to October 5.